Gas-gun



G. U. HALL AND J. B. TRUITT.

V GAS GUN. APPLICATION FILED MAB- 18, I918- RENEWED SEPT- 15. 1920.

Patented June 2 8, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Qwmm a. u. HALL AND 1. B. TRU|TT..

GAS GUN.

ED MAB 18, I918- RENEWED SEPT. 16. I920.

Patented June 28, 1921.

1938391 1 1 IfWPIJCATlON H1.

6 SHEEISSHEET 2- QM mw N W I G-. U. HALL AND J B. TRUITT. GAS GUN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR l8, I9l8. RENEWED SEPT. 16,1920.

Patented June 28, 1921.

' 6 SHEEIS-SHEET 3- amwwbow .lllll ll llllll ll (llllll 5 I V n/ y G. u. HALL AND J. B. TRUITT.

GAS GUN. APPLICATION FILED MAR-18, 1918- RENEWED SEPT-16,1920- i ,383, 1 1 1. Patented Me 28, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

a. UQHALL AND J. B. mum.

GAS GUN. I APPLICATION FILED MAR- 18, I918- RENEWED SEPT. I 6, 1920. 1,383,1 1 1 Patented'June 28, 1921. 6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

A v Q \gj EEK e; u. HALL AND J. BLTRUITT.

' GAS GUN.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 18, 1918- RENEWED SEPT. 16, I920.

Patented June 28, 1921.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

j gmmwbo'c? I a. Jfa/ZZ imme/so JAW In I m x'? 0]? EMUCGA, NEVADA.

PATENT orries.-

- GEORGE U. HALL AND JAME B. TRUIT'I, OFWINN'EMUCCA, NEVADA, ASSI G-NORS 0F ONE-FOURTH TO ANDREW I. WEIDMAN AND ONE-FOURTH.

GAS-GUN.

'1'0 LOUISE HALL, BOTH Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 119 1921,

Application filed March 18, 1918, Serial No. 223,181. Renewed September 16, 1920. Serial No. 410,744.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, GEORGE U. HALL and JAMES B. Truitt, citizens of the United States, residin at Winnemucca, in the county of Hum oldt and State of Nevada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-Guns; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The principal object of our iIIVGIItIOII is to providea highly efiicient gun in wh1ch explosive as is compressed and ignited to impel the ullets from the gun by the expansive force of such gas, thus eliminating the cost of powder and cartridge cases.

A- further object is to so construct the gun as to compress a large proportion of the gas by spring pressure rather than compressing all by hand.

A still further object is to provide a novel arrangement of valves for controlling the passage of gas from the gas compressor to the combustion chamber.

- Yet another object is to so construct the gun as to permit operation thereof by the well known longitudinally slidable hand grip beneath the barrel, said grip being connected to the usual action rod.

An additional object is to provide avgun which will be comparatively simple and inexpensive, easy to operate and not liable to be injured even though roughly handled.

With the foregoing general objects in view, the invention resides in the novel features of construction and unique combinations of parts to be hereinafter fully described and claimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and in which:

Figure '1 is a side elevation of the complete gun;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of a portion of the side opposite that shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a portion of the gun shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation show ing the hand grip and the action rod partly retracted;

Fig. 5 is a duplicate of Fig. 4 with the exception that it illustrates the grip and action rod completely retracted'and the corresponding arrangement of other parts;

Fig. 6 is a central longitudinal section of the gun showing the relative positions of parts after the harid grip and action rod have been returned to normal from the position shown in Fig. 5; I

Fig. 7 is a side elevation showing the relative positions of the external parts when the internal features are related as shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation with parts in section on the plane of line 8--8 of Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing more particularly the relation between the action rod, the compressor operating rod, the breech block' retracting means, and the transmitter which opens one of the above mentioned valves upon forward movement of said operating rod;

Fig. 10 is a vertical transverse section on the plane of the line 10-l0 of Fig. 7

Figs. 11 and 12 are vertical transverse sections on the planes indicated by the lines 11-11 and 12-12 of Figs. 6 and 8;

Fig. 13 is a transverse section on the plane indicated by the line, 13-18 of Fig. 5 showing more particularlythe rock shaft and cooperating parts for opening the needle valve yet to be described;

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of a portion of the rock shaft and said needle valve;

Fig. 15 is a longitudinal section through the stock of the gun;

Fig. 16 is a transverse section on the plane of the line 16-16 of Fig. 15;

Fig. 17 is a detail transverse section on the plane indicated by the line 11-17" of Fig. 15 showing a lock which may be employed for holding the trigger against open atlon; and,

Fig. 18 is a perspective view of the trigger locking pin shown in Fig. 17.

In the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates the barrel of the improved gun, said barrel being suitably secured to the front end of a metal case 2 in which a number of the working parts of the device are located, the rear end of said case preferably having an extension 3 into which the front end of the ordinary wooden stock 4 is inserted and secured in any preferred manner.

Slidably mounted in the case 2 is a tubular breech block 5 open at both its front and rear ends and decreased in diameter at said front end so that an external'shoulder 6 isformed at the juncture of the two diameters, the extreme front end of the block being receivable in a counterbore 7 at the. breech of the barrel 1. A cylindrical spark plug 8 projects snugly into the rear end of the reech block 5 and closes the same in a gas tight manner, the rear end of said plug having a head 9 threaded or otherwise suitably secured in the case 2. A coiled spring 10 is located between the rear end of the breech block 5 and the head 9 for returning the former to its initial forward position after it has been retracted and released by the means to be hereinafter set forth;

Any suitable tvpe of bullet magazine 11 extends longitudinally beneath the barrel 1 and carries the usual slidable handgrip. 12

'- of the barrel 1.

which operates the several parts of the gun.

When this hand grip is'pulled rearwardly, the breech block 51s retracted against the tension of the spring 10 and when said block is in this retracted position, a bullet lifter 13 comes into play to raise one of the bullets 14 from the magazine 11 into the forward path of the breech block as will be clear from the dotted lines of Fig. 4 in connection with the full lines of Fig.6. By the time this bullet has been thus raised, the retracting means of the breech block 5 is released so that the spring 10 forces said block forwardly to position the bullet in the rear end Simultaneously with this operation, the beveled or cam shoulder 6 of the breech block contacts with a portion of the bullet lifter-13 and. again forces the latter to the lowered position depicted in Fig. 6. This lifter is preferably constructed as follows:

The lifter in question consists of an arm having one end pivoted at 1.5 to a suitable internal part of the case 2, the other end of said arm having a depending guard 16 which closes the rear end of the magazine 11 when the lifter is raised and thus prevents the discharge of bullets from the magazine into the case 2. The upper side of arm 13 is formed with a longitudinal bullet receiving groove 17 into whichthe usual spring 18 of the magazine 11 feeds one bullet at a time at each lowering of the lifter or arm 13. A spring 19 is employed for automatically raising the lifter 13 the moment the breech block 5 is retracted.

For retracting the breech block 5 and operating several of the other moving parts of the device in the manner hereinafter set forth, an action rod 20 extends rearvvardly from the hand grip 12, the rear end of said action rod having a shoulder 21 adapted to abut the front end of a transmitting arm 22 whose rear end is pivoted at 23 to an angular'arm 24 secured to the sliding breech block 5 and extending outwardly therefrom through a slot 25 in the case 2. By this arrangement, a rearward pull of the hand grip 12 Wlll shift the action rod 20' rearwardl'y and since this rod abuts the arm 22, the

latter will transmit the motion of the former to the breech block 5, thus retracting the latter against the tension of the spring 10 and permitting'the-bullet' lifter 13 to come lnto play to raise one of the bullets to the pos1tion shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4:. By the time the bullet has been thus placed in the forward path of the breech block 5, the

arm 22 strikes a fixed pin 26 and is so raised thereby as to disengage the shoulder21, the result being that spring 10 then comes into actlon to force the breech block 5 to its for ward position, so that said block drives the bullet 14 into the breech of the barrel 1, the bullet serving at this time to seal the front end of the hollow breech block in a substantially gas tight manner. To obtain this result most effectively, 'the'rear ends of thebullets are by preference formed with rather soft lead plugs 27 which are tightly received in the reduced front end of the breech block when the bullet is forced into the barrel as shown in Fig. 6.

in rearof the bullet lifter 13 an the piston rod 31 of piston 29 extends through a stuffing box 32 attherear end of said cylinder, the rear end of said rod 31 extending upwardly at 33, laterally at 34 and then forwardly at 35 into the rearward ath of the action rod 20, so that rearwar movement of said action rod will correspondingly move the piston 29. A suitable latch 36 is provided for holding the piston rod 31 in its rearmost position until said latch is re-. leased by the trigger 37 which is connected thereto by a link 38; and the moment such release takes place, a coiled spring 39 between the piston 29 and the stuffing box 32, comes into play to force said piston again toward the front end of the cylinder 28. Upon each rearward movement of the -pis-- ton, a charge of gas is forced from the cylinder 28 to the hollow breech block 5 and a second charge of such gas is compressed into said breech block when the piston is again forced forwardly by the spring 39. For supplying the gas to the cylinder 28 and conducting such gas from this cylinder to the hollow breech block 5, the arrangement of parts now to be described is provided;

A needle valve casing 40 is suitably mounted at the'front end of the case 2 and the inlet 41 of this casing 40 (Figs. 8 and 11) is supplied with highly compressed gas from the magazine 30 by means of a suitable tube 42. The outlet 43 of casing 40 discharges into a puppet valve casing 44 which discharges into the front end of the cylinder 28. A needle valve 45 slides within and beyond the casing 40 for controlling communication between the inlet 41 and the outlet 43 while a spring closed puppet valve 46 permits gas to be drawn into the cylinder 28 from the casing 44, but will not permit reverse movement of such gas. Valve 46 is operated by suction in the cylinder 28, but

the sliding needle valve 45 is actuated mechanically from the action rod 20 by the means set'forth below.

The projecting end of the needle valve 45 is provided with an adjusting nut or the like 47 (see more particularly Figs, '13 and 14) said nut engaging the'lateral end of an angular link 48 which is pivoted to the lower end of a crank arm 49 on a short transverse rock shaft 50.- The end of the shaft 50 .opposite the arm49, is positioned below the action rod 20 and is provided with an upstanding crank arm 51 in the rearward path of a pin 52 on the action rod- By this arrangement, rearward movement of said rod will, through the instrumentality of the parts 51, 50, 49, 48 and 47, open the needle valve 45 so that as the piston 29 is moved rearwardly by the continued rearward movement of said action rod,-a charge of gas will be drawn from the magazineBO through the tube 42 and the needle valve casing 40 into the puppet valve casing 44, and from the latter into the cylinder 28. When the piston reaches the llmit of its rearward travel, the latch 36 comes into play to hold it against forward movement until the trigger 37 is released, and it may here be said that during the rearward '-movement of said piston, it not only draws a charge of gas into the front end of cylinder 28, but forces a previously intaken charge from the rear end of said cylinder into the breech block 5 by the following means.

A tube 53 (see more particularly Fig. 8) leads from the rear end of the cylinder 28 to a three-way check valve casing 54 (Figs. 8, 11 and The casing 54 communicates with the interior of the sliding breech block 5 by means'of a port 55 in said block but a check valve 56 is provided for preventing passage breech block back into said casing. The casing 54 also communicates at 57 (Fig. 12) with the front'end of the cylinder 28. The

as compressed in the rear end of said cylinder by the rearward movement of the piS- ton 29, is forced through the tube 53 to casing 54, through a check valve 58 in the latter and then through the check valve 56 and port 55 into the hollow breech block 5. When piston 29 is released and spring 39 of gas from said the gas compressed by such movement of front end of the cylinder the port 57 and thus enters the casing 54. In this casin .the compressed gas passes through the t ird check valve 59 andthen through valve 56 and port 55 into the hollow breech block 5; Two charges of gas having. been compressed in this breech block by therearward and forward strokes of the piston, this gas is fired by the spark plug 8 in a manner to be set forth, with the result that the bullet is projected from the barrel 1.

As the piston 29 moves forwardly, it is necessary that it shall draw in a new charge of gas into the rear end of cylinder 28 and for obtaining this result, means are provided for again opening the needle valve 45 to admit as from the magazine 30 to the puppet valve casing 44 and from this casing a tube 60 leads to the rear end of the cylinder 28 and dischar es into the latter through a check valve 61. lhe valve opening means is by preference constructed as follows:

A longitudinal transmitting arm 62 is pivoted to a short crank arm 63 at its front end, said crank arm depending from the rock shaft 50 above described (see Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 13). The rear end of the arm or rod 62 is preferably off-set laterally as at 64 and disposed to be struckby the portion 35 of the piston rod 31 when the latter is moved forwardly by the spring 39. It will thus be obvious that when the portion 35 of said piston rod contacts with the transmission rod or arm 62, it will force for- 28 by way ofwardly on the latter and so rock the shaft 50 I as'to cause the crank arm 49 and link 48 to open the needle valve 45, thus permitting gas to be drawn from the magazine 30 through the tube 42, casing 40, casing 44, tube 60 and check valve 61 into the rear end of the cylinder 28. The exact paths of travel of the several currents of gas having now been specifically set forth, they will not be entered into in detail in the following, in order to avoid confusion.

The transmission arm 62 above briefly described, is preferably of'f-set downwardly at its front end as shown at 65, while its rear end is provided with a suitable inclined cam 66 on its lower edge. It is the oflice of this cam to engage the pin 26 above described to raise rod 62 and disengage it from the piston rod 31 after said transmission rod has been moved sufliciently oflice. It is of course understood that the action rod 20 has been returned to its for- -ward position before piston rod 31 moves to accomplish its as the action rod 20 moves forwardly, the link 48 is preferably slidable on the projecting end of the needle valve against the tension of a coil spring 68-(Fig. 14). By this arrangement, contact of pin 52 with arm 51 as the-action rod moves forwardly will rock the shaft but will not operate the needle valve 45.

As it is required that the compressed charge of gas in the hollow breech block 5 shall be fired the moment the piston 29 has reached the limit of its .forward movement, such movement is preferably made'to close the circuit of the spark plug 8. In the present showing, the vertical portion 33 of piston rod 31 strikes a contact sprin 69 on and insulated from the rear end of t e cylinder 28 and thus completes the circuit of the spark plug, the current being supplied from a battery 7 O and spark coil 71 through suitable wiring 71' said battery and coil being located in appropriate pockets formed in the stock 4 as featured in Figs. 15 and 16. In order to prevent wasting of the current from the battery by continued contact of the parts 33 and 69 after closing of the spark plug circuit, a shock absorbing spring 7 2 is located at the front end of cylinder 28, and it is the ofiice of this spring to cause a slight recoil or rebound of the piston 29 when struck by the latter, so that the part 33 of the piston rod 31 will be moved rearwardly to a sufiicient extent to clear the contact 69.

As a preferred type of the gas magazine 30, we have shown such magazine in the form of a tube open at its front end and having at its rear end an integral cap 73 which is threaded into the rear end of a tubular casing 74, said casing being inset in the stock 4 and opening through the rear end of the latter. The front end of casing 74 may be reduced at 75 and communicate with tube 42 or any other preferred construction could .well be employed. At 76, the tubular casing 74 is formed with a filling opening located near its rear end and normally closed by a plug or any other preferred means 77 (Fig. 16). The tubular magazine 30 normally closes the opening .76 as shown, but when the cap 73 is unthreaded and said magazines pulled rearwardly to a suflicient extent, this openin will be exposed. By removing the plug 7?, suitable gas may now be compressed in the magazine, after which the tube 30 is again moved into casing 74 and held by threading the cap 73 into place. To prevent possible leakage of gas from the interior of the tubular magazine 30 between said magazine and the casing 74, a packing 78 is preferably provided on. the front end of said magazine. Also, although in some cases the mere suction from the cylinder 28 could be relied upon to draw the gas from the magazine,

a follower 79 is preferably located in the latter and provided with a, spring 80 for moving it forwardly as the gas is expelled. It isto be understood, however, that due to the short period of time which the needle valve 45 is open, only a small quantity of gas will be drawn from the ma azine and due to the high compression 0% this as, such a quantit will be ample. It may urther be state that sufiicient air is mixed with the incoming gas to insure a highly combustible mixture, by forming air inlet openin s 44' in the puppet valve casing 44 throug which all charges of gas are drawn before entering the cylinder 28.

Preferably used in connection with the features above described, is a transversely slidable locking pin 81 for the trigger 37,

said pin. having a notch 82 which w1ll permit rearward movement of said trigger when positioned in rear of the latter, but when the pin is so shifted as to dispose said notch out of alinement with the trigger, the latter cannot be operated to release the latch 36 and consequently the gun cannot be fired. A spring pressed detent 83 operating in. a zigzag groove 84 in the pin 81 may be employed for. holding the latter in either of its two positions, but other means could well be employed for this purpose if desired.

Another feature which will in most cases be embodied in the invention, is a knob 85 carried by the front end of the forwardly extending portion. 35 of the piston rod 31, so that the piston 29 may be operated by hand to initially expel accumulated air from the gun and charge the same with an explosive mixture. s shown in the drawings, this knob is located on theexterior of one of a pair of removable side plates 86 which are employed for housing as many of the external parts of the gun as possible.

The operation of the improved gun is as follows:

Assuming that the parts stand as seen in Fig. 7 except that the piston 29 has been moved forwardly by the spring 39-, and that the bullet 14 last deposited in the barrel 1 has been fired therefrom, a rearward pull on the hand grip 12 will shift the action rod 20 rearwardly, thus causing the transmission arm 22which then abuts the shoulder 21 as seen in Fig. 7, to retract the hollow breech block 5 against the tension of the spring 10 (see Fig. 9). Upon this retraction, the bullet lifter 13 positions the bullet in advance of the breech block as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 and the moment this bullet has been so raised, the pin 26 shifts the transmission arm 22 (see Fig. 4) so that spring 10 immediately returns the hollow breech block 5 to its forward position and forces the bullet 14 into the rear end of the barrel, (see Fig. 6) simultaneously lowering the lifter 13. Continued rearward movement of the action rod 20 opens the needle valve 45 by the means above described and through theinstrumentality of, the piston rod 31, moves the piston 29 rearwardly. This movement of the piston forces the gas from the rear end of the cylinder 28 into the hollow breech block 5 through the communicating means above set forth for this purpose and simultaneously a new charge of.

gas and air is drawn into the front end of the cylinder. The latch 36 holds the piston in a retracted position against the tension of the spring 39 and when the hand grip 12 is returned to its forward position, the rock shaft 50 is operated idly. Pulling of the trigger 37 will IlOIW release the latch 36 so thatspiring 39 will suddenly force the piston 29 forwardly, thus driving the charge of gas and air from the front end of cylinder 38 into the hollow breech block 5 and at the same time drawing a new charge of gas and air into said cylinder behind the piston, the valve 45 being opened in the meantime by the transmission rod 62 for this purpose. When the vertical portion 33 of the piston rod 31 strikes the contact 69, the circuit of the spark plug 8 is instantly completed so that a spark will jump between the two terminals of the plug, thus firing the highly compressed charge in the breech block, w1th the result that the bullet will be impelled from the barrel 1. The spring 72 serves to bring piston 29 to a standstill and also to cause suflicient recoil of this piston to separate the portion 33 ofits rod' 31 from the.-

contact 69, thus breaking the circuit of the spark plug and preventing the unnecessary use of current from the battery 70. When the part 33 of the rod 31 strikes the contact 69, the current flows from the coil 71 to the central electrode of the spark plug 8, jumps across the gap between the two electrodes of the plug to the metallic shell of the lat-,- ter, from said shell to the cylinder 28, from this cylinder to the piston 29, from the piston along the rod 31 and from this rod to the contact 69, from which it returns to the coil through the other wire 71.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be obvious that although our improved gun is of comparatively simple and inexpensive nature, it will be highly efficient and durable and will operate with ease and with less expense than those employing powder contained in cartridge cases provided at their front ends with the bullets, The operation of the several parts is sufliciently sensitive to insure the best results, yet the gun will stand comsiderable rough usage without injury. F or these and other obvious reasons, the invention is particularly well adapted for military use, although it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to breech block has reached any particular field. Since probably ,the best results are obtained from the several features shown and described, these features are by preference employed, but within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous minor changes may well be made.

Weclaim: 1. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel, a sliding tubular breech block at the rear end of said barrel and having an open front end communicating therewith, a compressor independent of said breech block for forcing compressed gas into said block, a gas supply means for said compressor, means for shifti g said breech block rearwardly from the barrel and then again forwardly and for actuating said compressor to compress gas in the breech block when said its forward position, communicating means between said compressor and the interior of said breech block, means for placing a bullet at the rear end of the barrel each time said block is retracted, and means for igniting the compressed gas in said breech block.

. 2. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel, a fixed spark plug spaced in rear of said barrel and alined therewith, a tubular breech block slidably surrounding said spark plug at its rear end and communicating at its front end with said barrel, a compressor for forcing compressed gas into said breech' block, a gas supply for said compressor, communicating means between said oompressor and the interior of said breech block,

placing a bullet at the rear end of the barrel a each time said breech block is retracted, and means v for completing the circuit of said spark plug after compression of the gas in said breech block.

3. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel,a sliding hollowbreech block at the rear end of said barrel, a compressor for forcing compressed gas into said breech block, communicating means between said compressor and'said block, compressor, a sli ing operating rod for said compressor, a sliding action rod for shifting said operating rod when moved rearwardly, transmitting means for imparting motion to said breech block from said action rod to retract the former, means for placing a bullet at the breech of the barrel when said breech block is retracted, means for releasing said transmitting means after placin of the bullet, a spring for returning said breech block toits forward position when as supply means for said piston, an action rod 4. A structure as specified in claim 8, said breech, a combustion chamber at said breech,

a compression cylinder and gas supply means therefor, communicating means etween said cylinder and said gas supply means including a valve, communicating means between said cylinder and said combustion chamber, a piston in said cylinder for forcing compressed gas into said combustion chamber, an o erating rod for said or actuating said operating rod, means operated by said action rod for operating sa1d valve to control the passage 0 for firing the gas charge in said combustion chamber.

6. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel and means for feeding bullets to its breech, a combustion chamber at said breech, a compression cylinder and gas supply I means therefor, communicating means between said cylinder and said gas supply means including a valve, communicating means between said cylinder and said combustion chamber, a piston in said cylinder for forcing compressed gas into said combustion chamber, an operating rod for said piston, a longitudinally slidable action rod for moving said operating rod rearwardly to correspondingly shift said piston to force a charge of gas into the combustion chamber, means operated by rearward movement of said action rod for opening said valve to permit gas from said gas supply means to enter the front end of said cy inder, trigger released means for holding said piston against return to the front end of the cylinder, a spring for moving said piston forwardly upon release of said holding means to force a second charge of gas into said combustion chamber, transmitting means actuated by forward movement of said piston for again operating said valve opening means to admit additional'gas from the gas supply means into the rear end of the compression cylinder, and means for firing the gas in said combustion chamber.

7 A structure as specified in claim 6, said transmitting means consisting of an arm pivoted to said valve opening means and disposed in the forward path of said piston operating rod, and a projection in the path of said arm for shifting it from engagement with said operating rod.

8. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel, a hollow sliding breech block at the rear end of said barrel, a lonigtudinally slidgas to -said cylinder, and means able action rod, transmitting means for moving sa1d breech block rearwardly upon rearward movement of said action rod,

means for placing a bullet at the breech of the barrel while said breech block is retracted, means for releasing said transmitting means after placing of the bullet, and a spring for then returning said breech block to its forward position; together with a compression cylinder, gas supply means for said cylinder, communicating means between said cylinder and said gas supply means including a valve, a double acting piston in said cylinder for forcing compressed gas into said breech block, an operating rod for said piston shifted rearwardly by rearward shifting of said action rod to correspondingly move said piston and force a charge of gas into said breech block, means actuated by said rearward shifting of said action rod for opening saidvalve to admit gas into the front end of said cylinder, trigger released means for holding said piston at the rear end of the cylinder, a spring for forcing said piston forwardly when said holding means is released whereby to force another charge of gas into said breech block, additional transmitting means for again operating said valve opening means as said piston moves forwardly to supply gas to the rear end of said cylinder, and means for firing the compressed gas forced into said breech block. v

9. A structure as specified in claim 8, said first-named transmitting means comprising an arm pivoted to said breech block and a shoulder on said action rod engaging said arm; said second-named transmitting means comprising an arm pivoted to said valve openin means and disposed in the forward path 0 said piston operating rod; and said releasing means for said first named transmitting means consistin of a projection in the paths of both of sa1d arms for swinging them to inoperative position after their proper periods of operation.

10. In a gas gun, the combination of a barrel and means for feeding bullets to its breech, a combustion chamber at said breech, a compression cylinder, gas supply means for said cylinder, communicatmg means between said cylinder and said combustion chamber, a piston in said cylinder for forcing compressed gas therefrom into said combustion chamber, a spring for shifting said piston from one end of the cylinder to the other, an electric ignition device for said combustion chamber, circuit closing means for said ignition device including a fixed contact and a second contact movable withsaid piston to engage said first named contact at the completlon of the piston stroke, and means for roducing recoil of said piston at the end of its stroke, whereby to again disengage said contacts.

suitably connected, gas compressing and fir 11.-In a gas gun, a stock and a barrel ing means for impelling bullets from the barrel, and gas supply means for said compressing means comprising a tubular casing in the stock and opening through the butt thereof, said casing having betweenits ends a filling opening, a tubular gas magazine slidable tightly in said casing and open at its inner but closed at its outer end, and releasable means for holding said magazine in said casing but permitting suflicient withdrawal thereof to expose said filling opening.

12. A gun comprising a barrel having at its breech a combustion chamber, means for feeding bullets into said breech, a fuel reservoir, means for charging said combustion chamber from said reservoir, and a common operating handle for controlling both the bullet feeding means and the charging means.

13. A gun comprising a barrel having at its breech a combustion chamber, means for feeding bullets into said breech, afuel reservoir, means for charging said combustion chamber from said reservoir, and a common controlling member for said bullet feeding means and said charging means.

14. A gun comprising a barrel having at its breech a combustion chamber, a bullet magazine, a bullet lifter for-feeding bullets from said magazine into said breech, a slide for controlling the operation of said bullet lifter, a fuel reservoir, means including a pump operated by said slide for charglng said combustion chamber, an operating member for .said slide, and means for firing the charge in said combustion chamber.

15. A structure as specified in claim 13, said charging means including a mixture supply tube for said combustion chamber, a valve for controlling the discharge of mixture into said chamber, and means for opening said valve after placing of the bullet at the breech of the barrel.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' GEORGE U. HALL. JAMES B. TRUITT. Witnesses:

Tnos. J. D. SALrrnR, Susan BURKE. 

